Immaterials: Light painting WiFi on Vimeo

00:00

290

See all Show me

38. Robot readable world

by Timo

2 weeks ago

37. Aeon (1999)

by Timo

4 months ago

36. Immaterials: Light painting WiFi

by Timo

11 months ago

35. Pummelvision!

by Timo

1 year ago

34. BERG, 13 July 2010

by Timo

1 year ago

33. Wireless in the world 2

by Timo

1 year ago

32. Talking Carl commentary

by Timo

1 year ago

31. BERG. 23 February 2010

by Timo

1 year ago

30. Zero click

by Timo

2 years ago

29. Touch: Design practice & experiments in film

by Timo

2 years ago

28. Immaterials: the ghost in the field

by Timo

2 years ago

27. Skål

by Timo

2 years ago

26. Sniff

by Timo

2 years ago

25. Nearness

by Timo

2 years ago

24. Map/Territory

by Timo

2 years ago

23. Immaterials: Unraveling the antenna

by Timo

2 years ago

22. iPhone RFID: object-based media

by Timo

2 years ago

21. Woodwork

by Timo

2 years ago

20. Wireless in the world

by Timo

2 years ago

19. Playful augmented products workshop

by Timo

3 years ago

18. Cottam arrives

by Timo

3 years ago

17. Escalator Jack

by Timo

3 years ago

16. BRU

by Timo

3 years ago

15. Experiments in Field Drawing

by Timo

3 years ago

14. Flytoget sequence, 25 August 2008

by Timo

3 years ago

13. November 2007 - May 2008

by Timo

3 years ago

12. Making an RFID cross-section

by Timo

3 years ago

This project explores the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs.

A four-metre long measuring rod with 80 points of light reveals cross-sections through WiFi networks using a photographic technique called light-painting.

More here:
nearfield.org/2011/02/wifi-light-painting
yourban.no/2011/02/22/immaterials-light-painting-wifi/
Behind the scenes: yourban.no/2011/03/07/making-immaterials-light-painting-wifi/

Photos:
flickr.com/photos/timo/sets/72157626020532597/

In case Vimeo has video problems, there is also a Youtube version here:
youtube.com/watch?v=cxdjfOkPu-E

Credits

4,829 Likes

maria de narvaez
18 hours ago
Guilherme Ferreira
20 hours ago
Andjelija Jancic
1 day ago
Blake Higgins
1 day ago
yujen
1 day ago
VJ Hellstone
1 day ago
RakunFilm
2 days ago
Jorge Kartalian
2 days ago
clanbalache
2 days ago
Cetusss
2 days ago

Tags

Johannes Kleske 11 months ago

Just watched the premiere at #CoCities. I love the notion of immaterials.
Teppo Kotirinta 11 months ago

Yeah, me too.
Ergonomidesign 11 months ago

I love this Timo! This is such an amazing probe. (Rahul)
samin 11 months ago

Really nice work, guys. Congrats!
Matt Brown 11 months ago

Stunning stuff as always.
bashford 11 months ago

Beautiful work!
Carolina Vallejo 11 months ago

Really nice work! Is there a reason why you picked a 4m rod? It seems that most of the time the signal is below that but then there are other sequences in which is clear that it would go a lot higher. Would be interesting to see how high it gets as well.
Timo 11 months ago

Carolina: the light painting is a 'line graph', it doesn't represent the actual shape of the wifi radiation. So 4 metres was both large enough to set that visualisation at architectural scale, while not being unweildy.
Carolina Vallejo 11 months ago

oh, doh. Thanks for clarifying that :)
ZX Wang 11 months ago

Really Amazing!
João Martins 11 months ago

With video from the same angle and the signal from the pictures masked in post to appear gradually as the subject walks across the frame, the output might be interesting.

outstanding idea and execution.
Congrats! insta-like.
Daniela Petkovic 11 months ago

Awesome idea!

Shared on TISCO:
facebook.com/pages/THIS-IS-SO-CONTEMPORARY/89359248691

DP.
Emma Nichols 11 months ago

What an interesting concept, nice work
Kijek / Adamski 11 months ago

Great both as a structure and as a infographic. These ethereal landscapes are truly amazing. The only pity is that you contented yourself on making single stills. It would be much more powerful as an animated piece.
Congrats anyway!
Timo 11 months ago

See here: flickr.com/photos/timo/5502255917/
Benjamin Aaron Degenhart 11 months ago

genius work, congrats!
what would it take to get to a 3D landscape?
Shun 11 months ago

Phenomenal!!!
Aris Michalopoulos 11 months ago

So inspiring! thanks..
Dima Nedria 11 months ago

Genious idea!
Aimz 11 months ago

pretty awesome! so did anyone ask you what you were doing?
Einar 11 months ago

No, but we where attacked by a dog.
rulovillalvazo 3 days ago

hahahaha! epic comment is epic
James Alliban 11 months ago

Great idea, brilliantly executed. Congrats guys.
Francesco Di Giorgio 11 months ago

looks like a 21st century water diviner.
vimeo.com/17785369
Cheeyoon Lee 11 months ago

Genius agreed! What's the soundtrack may I ask?
Einar 11 months ago

The music is from the Norwegian artist Phonophani / Espen Sommer Eide :

sommer.alog.net/

runegrammofon.com/artists/phonophani/
Dries De Roeck 11 months ago

The soundtrack is amazing indeed, is it a piece composed especially for this project?
Einar 11 months ago

Not really. It is an existing Phonophani piece that we have edited to fit the film. Some of the melodies can be found on Phonophani's new record Kreken:

runegrammofon.com/artists/phonophani/rcd-2101-phonophani-kreken-cd/
KS12 11 months ago

Beautiful and strange ghosts of the city.
Tor Hauksson 11 months ago

Fantastic!
THE LIGHT SURGEONS 11 months ago

love it! thanks for posting this!!
Nina Valkanova 11 months ago

fantastic idea! maybe you could present it to this call for projects and papers medialab-prado.es/article/visualizar11
gim 11 months ago

Thank you - really inspiring!
Mirko 11 months ago

Interesting concept, stunning results!
James Osagie 11 months ago

This is lovely my friend!
The concept is top quality!

Please check my recent video and tell me what you think:
vimeo.com/20436804
Color Lounge - Cedric Riveau 11 months ago

Very nice idea!
Alexander Chen 11 months ago

Beautiful!
Fabian Vercuiel 11 months ago

I love simple and beautiful ideas like this - well done!
davide bellotta 11 months ago

hey man, love your video, could i share it on my blog davidebellotta.com/blog?
Chess Bonte 11 months ago

That's like, Super Awesome!
Keith Kenniff | Helios, Goldmund 11 months ago

Incredible work! Good choice of music.
Philip Han 11 months ago

Absolutely Amazing Concept and Execution ! ! !
Fairuz Nordin 11 months ago

Nice!... would really love to see this in stop motion...
Juan Felipe Gomez 11 months ago

Great proyect !!!
David Dalmazzo 11 months ago

great! I love this project
Felipe Tofani 11 months ago

this is awesome. great idea and execution =]
Alex Amelines 11 months ago

That is beautiful!

Can I make a suggestion for v2.0? if there is one?
MOdify the code so only the top light of the signal is on, so you only get a dot, then swipe an area in lines to get a 3D looking landscape.

Something like extruding the slice you're obtaining at the moment.

Just an idea…

Brilliant concept! Well done!
Duda Covett 11 months ago

Guys, I think it's amazing. Great idea! But I think it's fake. Who can walk and carry a 4m rod without bending it? The light columns are totally parallel. I guess they had some problems to execute it and decide to fake it. I hope I'm wrong. Anyway, it's a great idea.
Jeremy Jackson 11 months ago

No way. Watch again. At 4 minutes it will become apparent.
clickykbd 11 months ago

did you have to pick one network for each run? Or were you doing some math to combine the representation to be strength of all networks that are visible?

(Love it btw)

Would be interesting to try to measure traffic over the networks too and use a second color LED array, though a bit more promiscuous. ;-)
Einar 11 months ago

The instrument scans for all available WiFi networks, but only displays one at the time.
Paolo Belcastro 11 months ago

Excellent! Great idea and great realization.

Featured on Chic & Geek ( chicandgeek.com/transistors/immaterials-light-painting-wifi/ )
Brage 11 months ago

Utrolig bra!
Joshua B. Pribanic 11 months ago

Awesome! More shots angled from above with groups of people signaling and creating ranges of wifi...
Radames Ajna 11 months ago

hey that's a great idea! Have you thought about mapping the Earth's magnetic field? I think you can extend this idea of wifi signals to magnetic fields! anyway nice job!
George Hedon 11 months ago

digitalbuyologie.blogspot.com/2011/03/immaterials-light-painting-wifi.html

Luvle!
peter macdonald 11 months ago

nice. looks like scandinavia -- uppsala?
Einar 11 months ago

It is Grünerløkka in Oslo.
Jeremy Jackson 11 months ago

Absolutley brilliant work. I am in awe of your creativity for this.
Jeremy Jackson 11 months ago

Oh and the final sequence and stack? Amazing. You should post that to flickr.
Timo 11 months ago

Here it is!
flickr.com/photos/timo/5488490953/
Flashmagazine 11 months ago

Knallbra!
Dries De Roeck 11 months ago

Great stuff, the beauty lies in it's simplicity - very inspiring.
Dean Whitbread 11 months ago

seamful
Rudi de Groot 11 months ago

Very nice it is up at ReachBlog:
reachit.tumblr.com/post/3581019121/wifi-light-painting-by-immaterials
Zeno Flore 11 months ago

this is fantastic work! loved it
Jan Odenthal 11 months ago

Very cool idea and concept. Great work!
Mauritius Seeger 11 months ago

interesting how you can see shadows of cars and buildings. nice!!
Matthew Joseff 11 months ago

When does the hand held version come out so I can find the best wifi spot in my living room?
Thomas Vander Wal 11 months ago

Stunning!

Now to get this as an interface in AR.
Brian Gomes Bascoy 11 months ago

great! :D
P. Dunand Filliol 11 months ago

beautiful, poetic, immaterial, fun
Szabolcs Gergely (szabiakanich) 11 months ago

Really cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Tomm Wayfarer 11 months ago

GREAT JOB, GREAT IDEA, Nice WORKING.
Dan OConnell 11 months ago

Thank you for "visualising" the shape of the elusive signal we pursue.

Will you be sharing the circuit diagram?

Others can build on your concept, or just output to a VOM meter, or (easier to monitor) a voltage controlled sound generator to do a walk-about survey.

Dan
apologue 11 months ago

Very nice!
Arancia Idraulica 11 months ago

Wonderful, congratulations!
Mordando Pasto Rulero 11 months ago

excellent ideaa!
Damián A. Torres 11 months ago

This is great!

Which microcontroller did you guys used?.
Jørn Georg 11 months ago

We used an Arduino microcontroller. We will write more about the technical implementation later.
MosesStone 11 months ago

Very creative! I like it.........
Catetino 11 months ago

great!!!
Samoel González 11 months ago

wowz!
Judy L.Y. 11 months ago

Totally cool way of visualizing the invisible.
michael flood 11 months ago

Great job! Now maybe your next project should be mapping all emf around the planet!
Ilona Koglin 11 months ago

this looks absolutely supercool info visualisation...
Rupert Breheny 11 months ago

This is great stuff. If you'd held the stick upside down it might actually be easier to visualize the cross-sections of the spheres of wifi signal coming from the buildings themselves, rather than imply them welling up from your feet as it were.
Moments in Motion 11 months ago

realy great idea
EnQ 11 months ago

Very nice idea, both artistic and technical. Reminds me that I wanted to write a simple GPS to WiFi-signal strength logger some time ago. :)

I'm curious: Did you only lock to network names or also to single MAC addresses? It looks like multiple access points are adding up to a maximum combined signal strength (multiple peaks) in some "scenes". I would expect the signal to fade out more clearly with increasing distance. Did you try only a linear or also logarithmic scales?
Mƴɾℴsɭɒω бƴtɀ 11 months ago

Wicked!
mark doney 11 months ago

Awesome idea ! Great visuals.

I kinda wish I could see reflections of the lights in snow. Like in the moving footage. Probably not bright enough. But it's really clever. Great work.
matt pleztrom & Disable Crew 11 months ago

fabuleux !!
George Baier IV 11 months ago

Great concept and beautiful execution. Thank you for sharing this.
Kevin Groce 11 months ago

Did the video just get taken down :(
Marcelo Fernández 11 months ago

wow
Denis 11 months ago

Sorry
This video is unavailable.
????
Einar 11 months ago

There seems to be a problem with Vimeo at the moment. We hope they get it sorted out soon.
Denis 11 months ago

Tks man =)
Minimalaysia 11 months ago

video unavailable?
NeadReport 11 months ago

This is great stuff. Too bad that after I posted this to FaceBook and Twitter the link is now taking a large Vimeo 'unavailable' dump. Come on Vimeo.